Server 2012 R2 vs. Server 2016 iSCSI Performance

The purpose of this review is to compare the iSCSI performance of Windows Server 2012 R2 vs. Server 2016. The comparison test was performed between a quad-core client machine running the Windows 10 operating system and two identical quad-core servers with the first one running the Server 2012 R2 operating system and the second one running the Server 2016 operating system. The client machine and both servers were equipped with identical Crucial MX300 1TB SSD drives. An identical data set containing 30,000 small and medium-sized files was copied between the client machine and both of the servers using the DiskBoss data management utility, which is capable of transferring data using multiple parallel data streams.

The average Disk Average Request Time is better for Server 2012 R2 (3.96 ms. vs. 4.09 ms.), the minimum Disk Average Request Time is better for Server 2016 (0.50 ms. vs. 1.29 ms.) and the maximum Disk Average Request Time is better for Server 2012 R2 (8.99 ms. vs. 9.81 ms.).

Server 2012 R2 vs. Server 2016 - Disk Average Read Request Time

Server 2012 R2

4.05 ms.

Server 2016

3.27 ms.

Less is Better

Average: 3.66 ms.

Min: 0.00 ms.

Max: 16.52 ms.

The average Disk Average Read Request Time is better for Server 2016 (3.27 ms. vs. 4.05 ms.), the minimum Disk Average Read Request Time is identical for both Server 2012 R2 and Server 2016 (0.00 ms.) and the maximum Disk Average Read Request Time is better for Server 2016 (9.06 ms. vs. 16.52 ms.).

Server 2012 R2 vs. Server 2016 - Disk Average Write Request Time

Server 2012 R2

4.11 ms.

Server 2016

4.64 ms.

Less is Better

Average: 4.38 ms.

Min: 0.69 ms.

Max: 11.56 ms.

The average Disk Average Write Request Time is better for Server 2012 R2 (4.11 ms. vs. 4.64 ms.), the minimum Disk Average Write Request Time is better for Server 2016 (0.69 ms. vs. 1.12 ms.) and the maximum Disk Average Write Request Time is better for Server 2012 R2 (8.61 ms. vs. 11.56 ms.).